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The UK has won two gold, one silver and two bronze medals at this year's International Mathematical Olympiad! The team came 17th out of 101 participating countries, and also received one honourable mention. It has been fifteen years since the UK team was last awarded two gold medals.

The IMO took place from 13th – 24th July in Amsterdam and the UK team entry was organised by the UK Mathematics Trust. The team that made us all proud consisted of:

Mathematics is the language of the sciences, and the 2011 British Science Festival will be speaking volumes about how exciting maths can be. From events exploring the impact of maths on ground breaking scientific ideas to the role of statistics in professional sports, there's enough to bring out the mathlete in everyone.

Throughout history, mathematical ideas have evolved to become integral parts of science and culture. Join the New patterns — new perspectives event on the 15th September to discover how maths has shaped some of the 20th century's most important scientific ideas. Discover how non-Euclidean geometries revolutionised our ideas about space, played a key role in the birth of chaos theory and are still delivering fresh insights today.

At Maths makes waves on the 13th September you can discover the wonderful world of wave mathematics. Find out how Schrödinger's wave equation revolutionised modern science by forming a keystone of quantum mechanics, as well as the myriad wave-forms that surround us every day, from atmospheric waves to the solitary waves promising to revolutionise modern communications.

In today's technological world we are swimming in a sea of data, but how can we harness this to better understand our surroundings? In the world of sports, managers and sportspeople alike increasingly regard statistics as superior to conventional sports wisdom. At Vital statistics: sport's key to successful decision-making on the 10th September you can join researchers to find out how football, rugby, cricket and other sports are using statistical data to put them at the top of their game.

Exhibitions running throughout the festival will educate and enchant about all maths has to offer. The getstats campaign is all about empowering people to use numbers well to inform the choices we make every day, while The sight and sound of the primes will use the pseudo random nature of prime number sequences to control captivating moving images.

The British Science Festival will take place in Bradford from 10th-15th September, giving members of the public the chance to explore the latest in science, technology and engineering, and meet researchers face-to-face.

Spaces for some events are limited, so book in to hear these exciting talks first hand or call 0207 019 4947.

Has your school been using our sister site Maths and Sport: Countdown to the Games? If yes, your commitment could earn you a reward from London 2012. You will get a plaque and certificate, and the right to use the London 2012 education logo. You'll also be given access to exclusive rewards like tours of the Olympic Park, visits from athletes, and priority access to tickets to the Games through the London 2012 Ticketshare initiative! All you have to do is complete the online application form for the Get Set network — the reward and recognition scheme for Get Set, the official London 2012 education programme.

Maths and Sport: Countdown to the Games is an exciting project to celebrate London 2012, run by the Millennium Mathematics Project, of which Plus is a part. We're developing free online mathematical articles and activities exploring maths and science through the Olympic and Paralympic Games, aimed at a wide audience from school students and their teachers to members of the public. Find all our current articles and activities here and join our mailing list to receive email updates on new content as it appears.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will visit Bletchley Park today to unveil a memorial to the codebreakers who played a vital role in the second world war. To celebrate their visit the Queen has challenged UK children aged between 13 and 16 to crack six secret messages. Visit the British Monarchy Website to download the code book and get started!

What's a particular piece of mathematics good for? It can take decades, or even centuries for an answer to this question to materialise. The power of mathematics is hidden behind a range of unforeseeable applications in the modern world that arise from mathematical discoveries of the past. In today's climate, in which scientific research is increasingly judged according to its impact, this can pose a problem for pure mathematics.

Now a group of mathematicians from the British Society for the History of Mathematics have collected some examples of the unplanned impact of maths, which are reported in the 14th July issue of the journal Nature. Peter Rowlett, who coordinated the collection, said, "Although most mathematicians know that mathematics has this surprising nature, many that I have spoken to aren't aware of more than one or two specific examples. I thought the British Society for the History of Mathematics could help by searching through history for examples that are less well known. We hope this collection will only be the start and that more mathematicians will send their favourite stories to us."

Leonhard Euler 1707 - 1783.

The field of topology is an illustrative example. Started by Leonhard Euler and studied for 250 years as a purely theoretical discipline, it has in the last two decades found applications in areas as diverse as genetics, the study of galaxy formation and robotics. These applications rely on 250 years of pure research, but the advances would not have been made if the researchers had had to justify the planned impact before studying their mathematics.

Gambling on 16th century dice games led to a discovery in mathematical probability that is crucial to the insurance industry, while a recent insight into a quantum theory thought experiment has unexpectedly found applications in the outbreak of viral disease and the risks associated with stock market volatility.